Receiving Your Funds

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Receiving Your Funds

Your federal student aid funds are ready for disbursement after you have:

When you are eligible to receive your aid, funds are disbursed to the Rio Salado College Financial Aid Office. Your aid is then posted to your account within three business days.

First-Time Student Loan Borrowers

There is a federally required 30-day waiting period from the time that your classes begin until you become eligible to receive the first disbursement of your student loan.

Awards and Student Account Balances

Important: Your financial aid funds may not cover all of your student expenses and your account balance. You are responsible for paying any tuition amounts or fees that are not covered by it.

Paying for College

  • If your financial aid award covers your account balance your place in your classes is reserved.
  • You are automatically dropped from a class if your payment for tuition and fees is not received within 10 days of the start of that class.

Your federal student aid is first applied to your: tuition, fees, books and other charges on your account.

Disbursement Eligibility Requirements

The college must verify that you are eligible to receive funds before they can be applied to your account. Funds will be disbursed after all of the following are confirmed:

  • You are participating in enough credit hours to be eligible to receive your disbursement.
  • You are confirmed to be participating in a class. Confirmation occurs during the second week of classes. Funds are released to you during the third week of class.
  • Grades from all of your prior term courses are posted. If your grades from prior term classes are not posted, you are not be eligible to receive your disbursement, even if your participation in class is confirmed.
    • All coursework must begin and end within your designated semester block. 
  • You are verified to be making Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP).
    • If you are not making SAP and do not have an approved appeal on file, you are not eligible to receive your disbursement.

Financial Aid Funds Deposits

You can opt to have your funds direct deposited to your bank account or to a reloadable debit card. If you don’t enroll in direct deposit, your financial aid refund is issued to you as a paper check. Allow 10-15 days to receive it after funds are applied to your school account.

Enroll in Direct Deposit

In your Student Center:

  1. Scroll down to Finances
  2. Click on Manage Refunds
  3. Select your refund method and enter the requested information

For more information, visit to the Maricopa Student Refund Program.

Financial Aid Disbursements

Financial Aid disbursements for Pell Grant and Direct Loans begin the following Tuesday through Friday after the drop/add period of each semester block start.

  • Per federal regulations, all Direct Loans must be equally and dually disbursed.
  • Changing semester blocks between the Fall and Spring semesters may impact the financial aid disbursement schedule.
  • A one semester loan will be disbursed in two separate disbursements and the second disbursement will be based on the mid-point of the semester Block Session.
  • If there is a change to the assigned block session between fall and spring semester this will result in loans being processed or updated to reflect one semester loans for each fall and spring semester. This means, each loan is subject to two separate disbursements and the second disbursement is based on the mid-point of the semester Block Session.